Chinese Hot and Sour Chicken Soup is one of the most popular takeaway dishes that is almost on every Chinese restaurant's menu. It is made with typical Asian ingredients such as dried mushrooms, soy sauce, vinegar, and silky egg ribbons.
This tangy, spicy, and warming soup is very easy to make and can be served as an appetizer or a light main meal.
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This Hot and Sour Soup recipe is perfect if you want to make your home version. It is very easy to make once you collect all the ingredients you need. And the best part is that you can customize it to your taste.
What is Hot and Sour Soup?
Hot and Sour Soup is a savory & spicy Chinese soup consisting of a few different types of vegetables, tangy soup broth flavored with Asian ingredients, and a type of protein. It is then slightly thickened with cornflour and silky egg ribbons.
The spiciness comes from chilies and white pepper, and the sourness comes from mirin, Shaoxing cooking wine, and white vinegar. You can easily customize it and adjust it to your taste.
Why This Recipe Works?
- This spicy and tangy soup is perfect to warm your cockles up on a cold winter day.
- One portion of Hot & Sour Chicken Soup has only 334 kcal, possibly one of the healthiest soups!
- You can substitute chicken stock with vegetable stock and chicken with tofu for a vegetarian option.
- Once you’ve gathered all the ingredients together, cooking this savory and hearty Chinese Hot and Sour Soup is quick and very easy.
- The leftovers would keep for up to 5 days when refrigerated.
- This Chinese Hot and Sour Chicken Soup freezes beautifully! You can double the recipe up and freeze the extra for up to 3 months.
Ingredients You'll Need
Please scroll down to the recipe card below for the full ingredients list with measurements, complete recipe method, recipe notes, and nutritional information.
Chicken
I like using chicken legs for my Hot and Sour Chicken Soup. They are perfect for slowly poaching in the broth and they add some extra flavor. You can use any other parts of the chicken if you prefer.
Just like the Easy Chicken and Dumpling Soup Recipe, you can use leftover Roast Turkey, Baked Chicken Leg Quarters, Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Legs, or Dutch Oven Roast Chicken for this versatile soup.
The leftover carcass of a roast chicken or turkey would make a good broth for Hot and Sour Soup. You can skip the chicken and add some tofu or extra vegetables to make this delicious soup vegetarian.
Dried Shitake Mushrooms
They add an amazing aroma and umami taste to the soup. They are available in most supermarkets or Asian shops. Alternatively, you can buy them from Amazon. You can also use fresh Shitake mushrooms but you won't achieve the same aroma and texture as the dried ones.
Wood Ear Mushrooms
Wood Ear Mushrooms grow on tree trunks and resemble ears in appearance. They have an amazing crunchy texture. They don't have much taste on their own, but they are good at absorbing flavors. I usually find them on tree trunks during the winter months, but you can buy them dried from Asian shops or online.
Alternatively, you can use extra oyster mushrooms or fresh shiitake mushrooms. If using dried Wood Ears, soak them together with the dried Shitake mushrooms.
- Stock - You can use either Vegetable Stock or Chicken Stock.
- Eggs - I use fresh free-range eggs when possible. Lightly whisk them before drizzling them slowly into the soup to make silky egg ribbons.
- Cornstarch - It thickens the soup and gives it a silky texture. Add it slowly until you achieve the desired consistency and adjust the amount to your liking.
- Soy sauce - I use Kikkoman all-purpose soy sauce for this recipe.
- Mirin - It is a rice wine used as a flavoring in Asian cooking. You can substitute mirin with dry sherry or sweet marsala wine. You can buy them from Asian shops or large supermarkets as well as from Amazon.
- Shaoxing wine - It is also known as "yellow wine". Shaoxing wine is a traditional Chinese wine made by fermenting glutinous rice, water, and wheat-based yeast. You can substitute it with rice wine or sake.
- Carrot - I love the color and the texture it adds to the soup. You can substitute it with bamboo shoots, mouli, bean sprouts, or bok choy.
- Vinegar - It gives sourness to the soup. White vinegar works best with this recipe. Adjust the amount to your taste. Add it last minute along with white pepper and sesame oil, after removing the soup from the heat.
- White pepper - The spiciness comes mainly from white pepper so I strongly advise using it along with dried chilies. You can adjust it to your taste. Add it at the end of the cooking process as they get bitter when heated for too long.
- Vermicelli - It is a short and thin type of pasta that is used for rice dishes or soups in Turkish cuisine. I love adding it to Hot and Sour soup when we want to have it as a main dish. You can omit it if you like or add soup noodles if you prefer.
- Toasted sesame oil - Adds a deep nutty flavor to the soup. Add it at the end of the cooking period.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Making Chinese-style Hot and Sour Soup is very easy as long as you gather all the ingredients together. However, you need to follow a few simple steps to achieve the best results:
Build the Soup Broth
Combine the stock, chili flakes, salt, all-purpose soy sauce, mirin, Shaoxing cooking wine, grated ginger, and sugar in a Dutch oven or a saucepan.
Bring the broth to a boil on medium heat and then add the drumsticks.
Cook the Chicken
Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes or until the chicken easily falls off the bone. Cooking timing may vary for different cuts and sizes.
When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan, put it on a plate, and shred it into bite-size.
Thicken the Soup
Return the chicken to the pan and then add sliced mushrooms, carrot, spring onions, soaking liquid from the dry shiitake mushroom, and vermicelli pasta.
Bring the saucepan to a boil and simmer gently for another 10 minutes. Add the cornflour slurry to the saucepan and stir until the soup has thickened.
Bring it to a boil and slowly drizzle the egg mixture in a thin stream while you stir the soup continuously to create egg ribbons. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the sesame oil, white pepper, and vinegar, check the seasoning, and add more salt, vinegar, or chili if necessary.
Serve it with a bowl of refreshing Asian Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad for a substantial weekday meal!
Recipe Tips From the Chef
- Add the cornstarch flurry before adding the egg ribbons.
- Gently swirl the whisked egg into the soup using a wooden spoon, avoid using a whisk!
- Add the white pepper, vinegar, and sesame oil at the very end of the cooking process.
- Homemade stock is the best for this soup. However, you can use a very good quality shop-bought stock if that's more convenient for you. Reduce the amount of salt if using shop-bought stock as they might contain some already.
- Adjust the amount of chili, white pepper, vinegar, and soy sauce to your taste. The amounts stated in the recipe card are perfect for our taste buds, however, you might find it too strong or too weak!
Recipe FAQs
It is best when eaten fresh but can be also kept frozen for up to 3 months. This soup will keep fresh for up to 5 days when refrigerated in an airtight
container.
If you serve this soup as a main meal, it makes 4 large portions and each portion has only 334kcal. If you serve it as an appetizer, you would get 6 portions and each of them has only 222kcal!
The slurry is a combination of starch such as cornstarch, flour, potato starch or arrowroot, and cold water.
Mixing starch with cold water helps to thicken a soup or sauce.
If the starch is added directly to a hot liquid without mixing with cold water, the starch granules cannot dissolve easily, and clumps form.
Side Dishes For Hot and Sour Chicken Soup
This authentic Chinese soup can be served as a main meal on its own or as an appetizer along with other favorite Asian dishes such as:
Did you make this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out! Leave a comment below and tag @cookingorgeous on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingorgeous.
I hope you enjoy the process of making this healthy and delicious Chinese Hot And Sour Chicken Soup as much as you enjoy eating it! 🙂
Bon appétit! / Afiyet olsun!
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Chinese Hot and Sour Chicken Soup
Equipment
- 1 kitchen scale
- 1 measuring spoons
- 1 Measuring cups
- 1 Lodge Dutch oven
- 1 Sharp knife
Ingredients
- 5 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
- ½ TSP chili flakes or chili powder (adjust to your taste)
- 1 TSP salt
- 4 tablespoon all purpose soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1 tablespoon shaoxing cooking wine (replace with same amount of mirin or sake if you don't have it)
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 4-6 chicken drumstick (about 1 lb / 500 g)
- ¾ oz dried shiitake mushroom (or 5oz/150 g sliced fresh shiitake mushroom) (20 grams soaked in 1 cup hot water for 30 minutes)
- 5 oz wood ear mushroom or oyster mushroom (sliced) (150 grams)
- 1 small carrot (chopped julienne)
- 1 cup soaking liquid from the dry shiitake mushroom (replace with extra chicken stock if used fresh shiitake mushroom)
- 2 ½ oz vermicelli pasta or rice noodles (75 grams)
- 4 spring onions (or 2 Chinese chives) (sliced)
- 2 tablespoon corn flour (make slurry with 2 tablespoon cold water)
- 2 medium eggs (lightly beaten)
- ¼ cup white wine or apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Instructions
- In a saucepan, combine the chicken stock, chili flakes or chili powder, salt, all-purpose soy sauce, mirin, Shaoxing cooking wine, grated ginger, and sugar.
- Put the saucepan on medium heat and bring to a boil then add the chicken drumsticks.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked and easily falls off the bone.
- When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan, put it on a plate, and shred it into bite-size.
- Return the chicken to the pan then add sliced mushrooms, spring onions, carrot, soaking liquid from the dry shiitake mushroom, and vermicelli pasta.
- Bring the saucepan to a boil and simmer gently for another 10 minutes.
- Add the cornflour slurry to the saucepan and stir until the soup has thickened.
- Slowly drizzle in the egg mixture in a thin stream while you stir the soup continuously to create egg ribbons. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Add the sesame oil, vinegar, and freshly ground white pepper, check the seasoning and add more salt, vinegar, or chili if needed.
Notes
- Add the cornstarch flurry before adding the egg ribbons.
- Gently swirl the whisked egg into the soup using a wooden spoon, avoid using a whisk!
- Add the white pepper, vinegar, and sesame oil at the very end of the cooking process.
- Homemade stock is the best for this soup. However, you can use a very good quality shop-bought stock if that's more convenient for you. Reduce the amount of salt if using shop-bought stock as they might contain some already.
- Adjust the amount of chili, white pepper, vinegar, and soy sauce to your taste. The amounts stated in the recipe card are perfect for our taste buds, however, you might find it too strong or too weak!
Lynsey urand says
If substituting tofu for chicken when would you add it and what type would you use? Thanks Ayla
Ayla Clulee says
Hi Lynsey, thanks for reaching out! I’d go with extra-firm tofu, cut it into rough pieces, and bake it for about 30 minutes until it turns nice and crispy. Then add it at the same time as the vermicelli or noodles. Hope that helps, and enjoy your soup!
Mark says
Very easy to follow recipe and we loved the flavour combinations. Impressive!